In the Shadows of the Night
by ssj hotaru
Summary: A Woman alone on a dark street, a figure in the shadows, A love full of lies. Please read and review


**In The Shadows of the Night**

Ssj_hotaru

**T**he night felt almost unnaturally dark and sinister, the ceiling of thunderheads casting an ominous impression over the city as Sora hurried home, one hand clutching her shoulder bag to her hip to keep it from rebounding.  An eerie mist smothered what lights illuminated the streets and gave the surrounding buildings an ethereal appearance but she walked briskly through the drifting haze, a bounce to her step and a smile on her lips.

Nothing could ruin her mood for she was seeing her _fiancé_ again tonight.  She laughed aloud in pure delight as she rolled the word through her mind again.  How lovely it felt to have that security, how different, how much more committed than _lover_.  No, Yamato was never again just her lover, now he was her fiancé, and in another few months he would be her husband.  It was as though all her dreams were coming true.  She was going to marry the man she loved most in the entire world, have the most beautiful children and watch them grow. Then when _they_ had children, she could bake them cookies and homemade pies on Sundays and they'd call her grandma and beg her to tell them a story each night before they went to bed.  There'd be family get-togethers on the holidays where the adults would sit on the big country porch and watch the kids playing in the grass and Yamato would take her hand in his and she'd smile knowingly and _oh_ it would be perfect!

Yamato would make the very best father, she just knew it, and she would love every minute of being a mother.  Should she try to get pregnant right off or wait a year or so?  She would have to discuss that with her husband to be, of course, but it was so nice to be able to lay her life out before her and see nothing but happy endings.  Now that she would be a married woman, she could even quit her job and become a housewife and there would be no more dark streets to walk after she clocked out.

Sora gasped as something rustled to her right and she stopped dead, her fantasy lost, her hand fumbling for the zipper to her shoulder bag and the can of Liquid Bullet pepper spray she kept within.  She listened hard, gazing intently into the black abyss between two buildings.  There the sound was again and the darkness seemed to move as a figure stepped forward, a shadow among shadows.  Her fingers closed around the small, metal tab and pulled, it slid a centimeter or two but refusing to go further.  The zipper was_ stuck!_

_Oh God, oh God, oh God._  She didn't know whether she was praying or cursing, but she'd never been so terrified in her life.  Light glinted off something as it was raised to shoulder level and Sora began to tremble as she heard the unmistakable click of the safety catch.

_No.  _She stared in disbelief at the creamy, oval face of her attacker, the golden eyes, the full, bow-shaped mouth, and the chestnut tresses. _ No._

            The golden eyes narrowed slightly and Sora could see satisfaction in their molten depths as the bullet entered the chamber, the lips turning upwards at the corners, the beautifully arched eyebrows lowering dramatically.  _This couldn't be happening._

            _This is a dream._  It had to be, it couldn't possibly be happening, not to her, not now, she was going to marry Yamato, get pregnant, become a grandmother.  She was going to bake cookies and read stories and wake up to sunshine and happiness for ever after.  _.has to be a dream._

She knew she should run, scream, struggle with her bag, sob hysterically, _anything_ but stand still, gazing her attacker like a deer at the headlights, but she couldn't move, couldn't speak, couldn't think of anything but the unreality of the whole situation.  _This isn't happening._

******

            The night was perfect.  Foreshadowing horror and terror.  And both would be forthcoming.  She waited, feeling like a predator, a sleek, tawny wolf crouched in the darkness, waiting for her prey to stumble unknowingly into her trap.  She could barely control her anticipation, her well-manicured hand, encased in thin, latex gloves lovingly caressing the 9-millimeter that had already blown a nice hole through Yamato Ishida's head.  The bastard!  He'd thought he could use her;  that Mimi Tachikawa would let him throw her away like so much trash.  Well she'd taught him better, and now she'd teach his little whore.  She grinned at the thought.  She could hear Sora's pleas for mercy in her mind and she savored the image.  She'd make her get down on her knees and _beg._  Then when she thought that she would live, that Mimi would let her go, she'd blow her fucking head right off her shoulders.   

Her fingers itched to pull the trigger, to get on with the game, but she had to be patient, couldn't let her victim get away, that wouldn't be good at all.  

She remembered Yamato's face when he'd turned on the light in his apartment to find her sitting in his living room, reclining in his chair with her stiletto heeled boots propped on his coffee table and his gun in her lap, her finger curled comfortably around the trigger.  He'd been surprised, she could see that in the way his eyes had widened, but he'd covered it quickly, her Yamato had always been good at covering his emotions.  He'd been angry that she should invade his privacy, wanted to know how the hell she'd gotten in.  She had casually jingled the key ring in her left hand, the one he'd given her.  "I thought you'd be happy to see me."  She'd said in her best seductive purr as she'd slowly crossed one long leg over the other, her skirt riding up.  She'd had every intension of killing him from the beginning, but it had been fun to play.  He'd been hot for her, his hands clenched, knuckles white, he hadn't noticed the gun yet.  That was when she'd drawn attention to it by aiming it right between his eyes.  She'd pulled the trigger without uttering another sound.  No clichéd "So long sucker" for Mimi Tachikawa, she had class and by damn, she'd prove it!

She was coming.  Mimi cocked her head towards the street, listening to the footsteps.  Her prey was getting closer.  Moving silently, she stood at the edge of the shadows, not wanting the little whore to know she was there until it was time.  Everything had to be perfect.

The damned cat was not part of the plan, scrounging around the garbage cans and making all sorts of noise.  Mimi cursed her luck as Sora stopped and looked right at her, her fingers scrabbling at her bag.  Going for the pepper spray, she knew.  It was now or never.  She slowly stepped from the shadows, bringing the gun up and aiming.

Nothing was going the way she wanted it to damn it!  The bitch was supposed to cry and fall to her knees and plead for her life, but _no_, she had to be calm and composed, the whore!  Couldn't make a proper scene could she?  At least she wasn't going to get peppered, she supposed that was always a plus.

She wanted tobreak that calm!  She wanted to break _her_!  She refused to let a florist's daughter get the best of her.  She glared at Sora, the girl who had once been called her best friend.  HA! If only she'd known how the popular crowd had laughed.  Sora Takenouchi _friends_ with Mimi Tachikawa?  Someone had certainly been dreaming big.

"Mimi.?"  The voice was a whisper, seeming to come from far away and Mimi wondered what had taken her so long, this was the opening she'd been waiting for, was the girl so dumb she didn't know who was about to kill her.  She hoped not, she wanted Sora to remember her while she was burning in hell, wanted her to know why too, wanted her to regret that she'd ever stabbed Mimi Tachikawa in the back.  

"You took him from me."  She accused.  Damn it!  That tremor wasn't supposed to be there.  She was supposed to sound cool and composed, not whiny and pathetic like some useless teenager!

"W-who?" 

"Yamato Ishida, damn it!"  Mimi had to pause to calm herself, contain all the hatred she could feel burning inside, boiling so close to the surface.  "He was mine."

"No."  The reply was strong, holding no doubt as to what Sora believed.  The naïve little girl, she actually believed Yamato had loved her.  Well while he'd been sending his little copper top roses, he'd been in bed with _her_.  He'd even ask her opinion on what flowers to send.  "Oh, the red ones for sure," she'd said, "they'll go great with her hair."  They'd both shared a laugh over that.

"Yamato was mine."  Mimi stated, smiling maliciously as Sora's eyes widened "He's been mine for years."

"I'm going to tell him all about this."  Sora said her eyes narrowed in righteous anger.  Mimi fairly shook with glee and she couldn't hold back the cruel laugh that escaped.

"Sorry Sugar," she pouted in a false honey voice, "but I'm afraid I've already killed him"

"No!" Sora placed both hands over her mouth, her disbelieving eyes begging to be reassured.  "No, you're lying.  Tell me you're lying!" Mimi watched Sora, resisting the urge to laugh insanely as she drank in her torment.  She allowed herself only a small, satisfied smile as her hand caressed the pistol, enjoying the feel of warmed steel beneath her fingers.

"You don't believe me?  I'll just have to reunite you then."  Her finger slowly pulled the trigger back, watching Sora's eyes grow larger just before the first bullet exploded the top half of her face.

Mimi pulled the trigger again.  Once.  Twice.  Three times.  Watching hungrily as Sora's body jerked spasmodically on the cold sidewalk before lying still as the echo of the last shot slowly faded.

Mimi dropped the gun and stepped over the corpse, careful of the blood now spreading on the concrete.  As she walked down the street and into the mist, she turned and blew Sora's cooling corpse one last kiss.  

*********************

_a/n:  I just had to re-write the ending to this story because something about it grated when I read it.  I like this version much better and I hope everyone will tell me how they like it.  Thank you-_


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